Quarter to Three
by Ezra
Summary: Jou's newly recieved, unmarked bracelets seem harmless enough, but will he be able to recognize the adverse reactions he's having before it's too late!? {Warnings: J/S yaoi, foreshadowing, and overall weirdness} {Author Note: Please read} {Discontinued}
1. Numbers

So, I got this idea after thinking about _Cute and Intelligent_. ^^ Although, this story will most definately be.. um.. not fluffy. XD Anyway, yeah. I don't own YGO, so, on with the show ..err story.

Beware, J/S yaoi, foreshadowing, and overall weirdness... 

{Quarter to Three} 

{Chapter 1: Numbers} 

Of course it had to rain the day he had to walk home. Without his jacket. Jou shuddered and rubbed his arms as he let out a cool breath. He was hoping to go to Yugi's house that night, but he and his Yami were out somewhere. Most likely on a date again, so he opted to go home that night. He shuddered, wrapping his arms around his torso and leaning in. It was bad enough to rain, but the wind had to kick in at that moment as well.

Jou coughed slightly, and looked to the grey sky glaring. Damn weather. Damn his memory. A gust of wind went past him quickly once more and he pulled himself closer together. It seemed to be getting colder. He sneezed.

_'Dammit, a cold is _not_ what i need right now'_ he thought.

His old house came into view, and Jou picked up his speed. Thunder sounded behind him in a sudden crash; which cause Jou to walk even quicker. He finally reached the door, and moved to open it quietly. It was most likely his alcoholic father would be sleeping at the moment. He opened the door fully, walked in, and silently pushed the door back to the opening. Jou walked slowly to his room, and threw his bag on to his floor, before flopping down on the matress that was on the floor.

He sighed, and sprawled himself over the ratty comfortor while kicking off his shoes. Slowly relaxing, he closed his eyes for a rest. It had been a _long_ day. Kaiba had been extra harsh for some reason. Mokuba must have pissed him off somehow this morning. Jou smirked at the thought. Mokuba was seemingly Kaiba's only weak spot. And Jou had pushed it today. Really, he didn't honestly mean to insult Mokuba, but his mouth ran off before his mind told him not to say anything.

_'Damn mind,'_ Jou thought to himself. He sighed and sat up, grabbing for his backpack.

He pulled out his math binder and piece of paper. He flipped through to the assigned page, and stared down. This of course is what he had been doing during the class itself, as well. It was numbers. Numbers and letters just jumbled together. He understood the concepts, sure, but he just couldn't remember anything. No matter how many times his teacher showed him, he couldn't grasp it, couldn't remember how to do it.

He sighed gruffly, and recited the problem in his head. _'Y²+6+12y=2. Solve for Y.'_ He could do this. He could. Because there was Y's on both sides, he could.. Damn. He couldn't remember. He banged a palm on his head, as if trying to make the memory resurface. 

He shoved the papers away from him and sprawled himself back onto the mattress. His door suddenly opened, and his father stood in the way. Jou looked up at him tiredly, "What is it, old man?"

"Watch your tone, boy, or I wont give you your mail!" It was an idle threat.

"I got mail?" 

His father tossed him a small package and left the room without another word.

Jou sat up and examined the box. There wasn't any return address. He jokingly wondered if there was a bomb inside.

He looked around it until he found a small piece of tape that kept the package closed. He pulled it, and opened the box.

There inside were intricately designed silk scarves. He wondered where they came from, but the box still held more. It was too heavy just to carry the scarves. He pulled them out, and continued looking through the box. There was nothing left.

He began looking through the scarves that now surrounded him, and had yet to find anything. He lifted the first scarf he had pulled out, and found two small bracelets. They looked gold, and both held an egyptian-centric eye atop them. Jou stared. The eye looked similar to the eye that was on Yugi's millenium puzzle. He cocked his head. They were just bracelets though. He picked one up, and slid it carefully over his hand. He picked up the second and slid it over the top of his opposite hand.

They were kinda pretty. But definately not his style. He pulled both off and set them next to the lamp on the little table he had next to his mattress, and stuffed all the scarves back into the box. He tossed the box to the other side of the room, and began cleaning up his math binder. He wasn't going to be able to do it. Like usual. Can't say he didn't try though. Yet another thing that Kaiba gave him hell for. Jou wasn't sure exactly how Kaiba had found out that he wasn't doing well in his math class, but he had. It was an everyday thing. Which had, coincidentally, provoked Jou's lash against Kaiba's little brother today.

Kaiba had immediately swung for Jou, but luckily he evaded the punch, and walked out as quickly as he could.

He didn't really like fighting anymore, even verbally. He had grown up since Battle City. He was a better duelist and he himself was more mature. He liked to consider himself a pretty well adjusted seventeen-year-old. So what he wasn't good with math? ..Or grammar. But, that didn't make him a bad person. Jou huffed. He stood and took off his pants to replace them with his pyjama bottoms. He clammored down to his mattress once more, and climbed under the comforter. Maybe he'd take a nap. It was only five o'clock, he'd be able to fall asleep again later. 

He closed his eyes and rolled over. No, that wasn't comfortable. He shifted again. Nope, that wasn't either. He shifted again, and faced the small table next to his bed. The bracelets with the eyes on them were placed together like a face. It appeared as though they were staring at him. Jou smiled slightly at the thought, and reached up for them. They were nice looking bracelets.

He tried them on again, one on each arm, and examined them closely. They looked like real gold. Jou remembered a trick he heard to find out if something was real gold. Bite it. If there was any dents, then it wasn't real gold. He brought his arn down to his mouth, and took a bite of the bracelet with his molars. He bit down hard, just to be sure, and pulled it away. His eyes widened when he saw the truth. There were no bite-marks. This was real gold! He wiped at his mouth, and sat up.

Someone had sent him gold bracelets! Real gold bracelets. He stared. Maybe he'd keep them on.

He climbed back into the warm comforter, and closed his eyes.

Jou woke with a start as he usually did, and pulled the covers around him tighter. He looked up around him, and noticed it was dark. He glanced at his watch, and check the time. 5:40 am. ...Whoa. He didn't realize that he was so tired. But now he wouldn't go back to sleep. Perhaps it was for the best, seeing as how he would have to go to school in an hour anyway.

He sat up, cold from the lack of heat in his household, and stood up. He stretched slightly, and looked around for the pants he had taken off the night before. They were jeans. They could be worn a couple days in a row without being washed.

He pulled off his nightshirt, and scratched his back. He checked himself out in the mirror. No funny movements to show off his muscles, but he did check everyonce in a while. He smiled slightly. He was proud of his body. He didn't work out for nothing. Alright, he had to give in. He brought one arm up to the mirror and flexed. A defined muscle showed, and Jou smiled. It wasn't until he noticed his wrist that he stopped smiling. His gold bracelet was gone. 

He quickly looked at his arm to see if the mirror had somehow tricked his eyes. No, it was gone. He brought his other arm up just as fast, and checked. That one was gone too. He panicked. Where were his bracelets?! His way cool, gold bracelets?! Jou sighed, and checked around his room. These were definately not something he wanted to lose!

It was 6:20 by the time he had finally given up looking for his bracelets. He would have kept looking, but he needed to get changed for school. He found his uniform pants and shirt and changed. He tied his sneakers on, and pulled a quick hand through his tangly blonde hair. Shizuka would scold him for not taking more care of his hair, but he couldn't worry about his hair anymore.

He grabbed his backpack and headed out the door with a quick, "I'm leaving now, dad," as he left. He half-walked, half-jogged until he reached the game shop to meet up with Yugi, as was his usual routine. He knocked on the door before walking in. Yugi was standing ready with his backpack, talking to Sugoroku.

Jou smiled lightly, and walked over to them. 

"Morning, Yugi," Jou told him.

Yugi smiled cheerfully, "Good Moooooorning!"

Jou chuckled, "Ready to go?" and turned heading for the door.

Jou stopped when he realized that Yugi wasn't following him. His eyes were glazed over slightly, and he was standing still. Within moments, Yugi blinked back into reality, and blushed. Jou smirked, as he was fairly sure that Yugi's embarrasment wasn't from talking to Yami infront of him. He chuckled to himself. Yugi loved his Yami. It was pretty obvious. Jou understood that. He didn't care if Yugi was gay, 

Their other friends didn't know. Jou wondered how they didn't notice, but he shrugged it off. Yugi really only cared for his opinion. Their friendship had most definately grown since Yugi came out to him.

Yugi walked towards him now, and Jou waved back to Sugoroku.

"Sayaonara, 'jiji!" Jou yelled out to him.

"Jou! You should respec--" Sugoroku was cut off as Jou closed the door.

"Damn kids today..." He shook his head and walked back to his spot behind the counter. He would be opening the shop for the day soon.

"Jou?"

"Yeah?" Jou looked down to Yugi.

"Are you alright? You've been awfully quiet today." Yugi was such a nice guy.

"Oh, I'm fine, Yugi." Jou stared out ahead of them.

Yugi look at him slightly worried, but shrugged it off. Jou would tell him if anything was wrong. They finally reached the school where Anzu and Honda were waiting for them as usual. 

"Good Morning, everybody," Yugi's voice sounded out. Everyone said their good mornings to eachother and they walked off towards their first class. The bell would ring any minute now.

"Jou?" It was Anzu.

"Yeah?"

"How did you do on the homework last night?" Anzu was curious by nature, sure, but she asked him this every morning. It got on his nerves usually. Luckily today, he was feeling strangely calmer than normal.

"Eh, same -ol' same-ol', you know. I couldn't figure that shi-- um, stuff out last night." Yugi didn't appreciate curse words.

"Oh, Jou."

"Yeah, well, no big deal. I'll figure it out sooner or later." Jou walked off leaving the group behind him. 

"Having trouble in mathematics again, mutt?" the familiar voice sounded out to him.

Jou stopped, feeling slightly stung more than usual. He turned. "Yeah. I am. So what?"

Kaiba was going to respond but stopped, "What? No insult?"

Jou sighed and shook his head, "I'm really not in the mood for this right now." He walked off. _'What was that?' _ Jou asked himself. He's never backed down before. Jou wasn't sure where his sudden mood change came from, but he wasn't happy about it. He continued walking down the hall until the bell for first period sounded out.

He walked down the corridor and to the left. He walked into his first classroom. He already couldn't wait for brunch.

Jou squinted against the sun. Yesterday's storm had brought along a rather sunny, warm day after it. Jou was feeling better from the morning, bad mood almost completely gone.

"Hey, Jou?"

"Yeah, Yugi?" He turned around to the boy sitting on the grass behind him.

"Come sit by me!" Yugi smiled, "Pleeeeeeease?"

Jou smiled, his bad mood forgotten, and moved to sit next to Yugi.

Yugi smiled broadly and showed his lunch. "Want any?"

_'Ooooooh, food,'_ Jou thought. He nodded, and grabbed for the twinky that rested beside the vegetables.

Yugi smiled. Jou's mood from the morning seemed to be gone, which made him happy.

Jou sat quietly once more and munched on his twinky. They were sooo good. He heard Yugi lay down against the grass, most likely going to talk to Yami.

Jou sighed lightly and lay down next to Yugi, closing his eyes. Anzu, Ryou and Honda's voices faded away slightly, and he thought back to the problem from last night. _'Y²+6+12y=2. Solve for Y.'_ ... Solve for--

Waitaminute. Jou shot up quickly and lunged for his backpack. He pulled out his math binder and looked through his book until he found the problem. He read it over quickly, and he suddenly blurted out, "Y is equal to .345 and 11.655! Yugi! Yugi!" Jou laughed, and shook his resting friend. The rest of the group sat slightly stunned, staring at Jou. Yugi sat up groggily and asked what the fuss was about.

"Yugi! I figured out the problem! .345 and 11.655 are both equal to Y!" He laughed, spun on his knees, and fell back on to the ground.

The whole group was smiling happily for him. Yugi frowned.

"Jou? What math problem was this?"

"You had to factor this problem. That was the work. It's like.. twenty of them. I couldn't figure them out. And the one I couldn't do last night.. well, actually the only one I tried working on. I just figured out how to do it." He laughed happily, and fell back.

"That's great Jounou!" Honda's voice drifted over to him. Yugi stood and grabbed the book away from Jou's backpack. 

"Where's the work?"

Jou looked up, "Huh?"

"Where's the work for the problem?"

"Oh, I didn't need to. I just kinda... got it."

Yugi smiled, but inside he was confused. "Why don't you try another one?"

Jou nodded.

Yugi sat down and factored out a problem near the bottom. After about two minutes, Yugi read out the original problem.

Jou ran the problem through his head a few times and the answer finally came to him within seconds, "X equals 7 and .2364." 

Yugi's eyes brightened. "Jou! That's right! I thought you didn't understand this stuff..."

"It just kinda came to me. Don't know how really. Just thought about the problem then.. poof! he he."

Yugi smiled. He was happy Jou could finally do the math he was having such trouble with.

All throughout his math period, Jou was consistantly the one who raised his hand. Why hadn't he understood this stuff before? It was so simple! The math teacher was surprised, to say the least, that her most troubled student was suddenly answering the questions that plagued him with trouble only the day before.

As the class finally endedand the teacher asked for Jou to stay after.

"Mr. Jounouchi, I want you to answer me now, and truthfully. Have you been looking at the answer book?"

_'What?'_ "....nooo," he answered, slightly perturbed.

"I have trouble understanding how you can so completely understand this subject when you haven't understood it since we started the unit."

"No, I understand what you're saying," _'Bitch.'_ "But I haven't looked in the answer book. I mean you can ask me a question right now, and Ill tell you the answer."

The eyed him wearily, then asked a question which had all three of her classes stumped on.

It wasn't twenty seconds until Jou stated the answer, "12 and .12685"

The teacher blinked. She sifted through her papers for the answer, and found it was just what he said. She looked up at him in shock. She quickly said another one off the top of her head, and sat down to answer it herself.

Jou came out with the answer, which just so happened to be the answer she came out with as well.

"Well, Mr. Jounouchi, I'm impressed. I apologize for acusing you of cheating." She bowed to him, "Keep up the good work."

Jou bowed, grabbed his backpack and then left the room. What was with everyone being so surprised? Suddenly a painful shock ran through his head. It caused him to stop in his tracks. Where had this massive headache come from?

Surely it couldn't be just because he used his brain. Jou smiled slightly through the pain and waited it out. It couldn't go on forever. Slowly it ebbed away, and Jou felt perfectly fine.

_'...Weird.'_

He walked towards the front of the school where Yugi usually waited for him. When he reached there, surprisingly Yugi wasn't there. He walked around yelling for him every few seconds. He came upon the library. Maybe Yugi was in here.

Jou opened the doors quietly and walked in. Of course this place had to be _huge_. He shoved his hands in his pockets and made his way slowly around the book cases. He glanced over the titles until one caught his eye. _Advanced Chess_

He pulled it out, and flipped through. He paused, turned back to the first page, and started reading. 

He realized that all the words he was reading were-- it seemed like it, atleast-- sticking in his brain. He read a little faster.

He paused and ran over the information. Yup, still sticking. As if he just read it. He read a little faster. A little faster. Within minutes, he has already made it a quater of the way through the book. And then he dropped it. What the hell was he doing? He blinked and recalled the information. It was there. Just like the quadratic formula. It stuck. He picked the book back up and put it in the shelf.

He looked around again and started walking towards the stairs. He spotted Yugi finally. With Kaiba.

What was it he was holding? ...And why exactly was Kaiba with him..

Jou walked up, slightly suspicious.

"Jou! There you are. Sorry I wasn't out front. I came to see if Kaiba could do something for me."

_'Sure, Yugi,' _he thought with comtempt. "Alright."

"I'm really sorry."

Jou sighed. He really had no reason to be mad at him. "It's fine. Ready to go?"

"Oh, Um I have one thing to get. Be right back." Yugi ran off before Jou could say anything, and he was left standing with Kaiba.

This would be fun.

{End Chapter 1}

Ezra/JI: I hope my new name change hasn't confused anyone. ^_^ This is still JI, just back to my original name!. 

Betty: I'm still her alter-ego! 

Ezra: ... Sadly. °_° Long first chapter, eh? Be prepared, most of the chapters are going to be rather long. XD I hope you readers don't mind. 

Betty: ¬_¬.. Review please! 


	2. Rubik's Fun

{Quarter to Three}

{Chapter 2: Rubik's Fun} 

Jou inwardly sighed, and turned to face Kaiba.

"..Jounouchi."

"..Kaiba." Jou snorted slightly and leaned against the staircase.

They both stood in silence. Silent, silent, silent.. Gosh, it was quiet.

Jou sighed and leaned away from the stairway, walking slightly toward the bookcases in front of them.

It was all the old classics. Jou's mouth twisted. Booooriiin--

"I think you're in the wrong place mutt, the childrens section is downstairs."

Jou's eye twitched in annoyance.

"I wasn't looking for the children's section."

"What then, youth? Mutt's like you obviously don't read classics."

"Says you. Name one, and I'll read it."

Seto snorted, "Jane Eyre. E-Y-R-E not A-I-R."

Jou rolled his eyes. He knew that. ...Well actually, he didn't, but he wouldn't admit it, of course. He grabbed the book off the shelf. He read the back with interest before turning it over to the front cover. Yugi showed up a moment later with a small colorful cube and a book.

"Jounou, I'm ready. Thank you for your help Kaiba."

Jou nodded, gave a half salute to Kaiba and turned away, walking towards the front. He passed the book _Advanced Chess_ once more, and told Yugi to wait a second. He grabbed the book off the shelf, and walked back towards Yugi. He eyed Jou's selection of books, but said nothing. 

The reached the front desk and checked out their books.

They walked slowly back to the front of the school, and to the street.

"What _is_ that, Yugi?"

Yugi smiled, "It's a rubik's cube. Wanna see it?"

Jou nodded, and plucked it from Yugi.

...Wow, a cube.

"Well, it's a puzzle. You turn each side until all the colors are lined up. I couldn't figure it out, so I asked around to see if anyone else could. Everyone I talked to said that they couldn't do it. So, I asked Kaiba, and even he couldn't!"

Jou started laughing. The great Seto Kaiba couldn't put a stupid cube back together?

Yugi gave him a slightly sour look, but said nothing again.

"I got this strategy book, hopefully it can help me out."

Jou nodded, and started twisting a side. "Can I see it?"

Yugi handed the book to him. Jou began reading. The words were sticking again. It was cool. He wondered if he had always been able to do this. He didn't read that much to begin with, so he didn't really know.

He read quickly over the pages of the thick strategy guide, while Yugi watched in wonder.

"H--hey Yugi, can I borrow this? And the cube? I'll give it back to you in the morning."

Yugi nodded, and Jou went back to the book, silently reading the rest of the way home. 

Jou entered his house quietly once more, as was his regular routine, and ran quickly to his room. He was 10 pages away from finishing. He eyes ran quickly over the page, memorizing each line, word for word.

He finished finally, and picked up the cube. He twisted it around to look at all the sides, and began to move each side. Red to red, yellow to yellow. And when he got stuck, he just remembered back to the book, and he could do it again.

When he finally stopped around three minutes later, Jou examined his work. It was complete. Jou let a breathe go he didn't know he was holding and started laughing. He mixed the cube up again, and started over. This time he completed it in 2 minutes. 

He continued going over the patterns. Now he was going for speed. 60 seconds. 53 seconds. 33 seconds, and his final score... 30.2 seconds. He laughed and landed back on the mattress below him. What the hell was he? Where did all this come from? Who cared? He was smart! Suddenly eager to finish his homework, he pulled out his binder.

Only ten minutes later he had finished both his math homework, as well as his Japanese history. 

Then he remebered Jane Eyre. He reached for his bag again but suddenly a jolt went through his head, similar to earlier today. Although, it was slightly more painful. Jou massaged his temples, and the headache ebbed away once more.

He reached for the book again, and started reading. An hour later Jou had finsihed Jane Eyre. 

_'Hm.. not that bad.'_ Jou smirked. He wouldn't have guessed Kaiba liked romantic stories. Jane Eyre was most definately one of them.

He looked down at his arms, and frowned. There were his bracelets. Sure, he was relieved to see them, but, where did they come from? ...Had they gotten bigger? He examined it closer. No, it couldn't have grown. They were just bracelets. Jou shook his head, as if to clear it. He needed a shower. He got up and walked to the bathroom.

He stripped down, and turned on the water. He checked himself in the mirror once more. He walked up close to it, to examine himself, fully. He seemed... tanner? Where did his tan lines go? He blinked a few times, and checked himself again. No, they were still there. His eyes were playing tricks on him.

He backed away, and climbed in to enjoy the shower he needed to take.

The next morning, Jou woke up with a start as he usually did. He got up slowly, and began changing. His bracelets were still on him. He still wasn't sure how they got back on him. He undressed himself, and got changed for school once more. He looked back on his arms. The bracelets were gone.

_'What the hell?'_ Where did they go now? He started looking back around his room. He flipped through books, binders and pillows, and couldn't find them. He looked down. There they were. Jou was getting freaked out.

He closed his eyes, and looked down once more. They were gone. 

He suddenly never wanted to see them again, but still couldn't help but wondering where they were. They suddenly appeared on his wrists. His eyes widened in surprise. …Maybe…

"Disappear." he tried. The didn't move. He frowned. What was he doing? Talking to bracelets. He shook his head. No time for this. He'll deal with his disappearing bracelets later. He needed to get to Yugi's house.

He stuffed all his work and books in his bag, and headed out the door with a goodbye yell to his dad.

When he finally reached Yugi's, Yugi was standing outside.

"I'm sorry I'm late, Yugi."

"Oh, it's fine Jou! We'll just have to walk faster."

Jou nodded, and they were on their way. He suddenly remebered about the cube. 

"Guess what, Yugi?"

"What?"

"I finished that rubik's cube."

Yugi stopped in his tracks. "What??" His eyes were wide.

"D'ya wanna see?"

He nodded his head quickly, and Jou brought his back-pack around him and piled through it. He pulled out a finished cube and a strategy guide.

Jou grinned, "I even timed myself a few times. 30 seconds!" Jou chuckled.

Yugi stared at the cube, and looked back up to Jou. Thirty seconds?

Jou smiled down at Yugi, "You don't believe me, do you? Why don't you mix it up?"

They continued walking, and Yugi mixed up the cube. He gave it to Jou.

"Alright, here we go." He examined the cube, and then began twisting it.

Sure enough, thirty seconds (give or take a few milliseconds) Jou had finished it.

"Wooooow! Jou, that's amazing!" Yugi was astounded.

Jou smiled sheepishly.

They continued on to school.

Jou amazed his teachers again by being able to answer the questions correctly and quickly. After school, he found his way back to the library to return Jane Eyre and _Advanced Chess_. He walked back over to the section where he found the chess book to look for another similar. Chess seemed like such an amazing game!

Sadly, there weren't any there, so Jou walked back over to the stairway to look for the bookshelf with the classics there. Jou found Kaiba sitting quietly at a table near-by. Jou smiled slightly, and walked over to the table. He sat down across from him and stared. 

Kaiba said nothing, so niether did Jou.

Several long moments later, Kaiba looks up to Jou, who was currently looking up at the ceiling.

"Wow. The ceilings in here are really high," Jou whispered.

Kaiba blinked. "Is there something you needed?"

Jou continued staring at the cieling.

Kaiba sighed, irritated, "Jounouchi."

Jou lowered his head to meet Kaibas.

Jou's eyes widened when he saw Kaiba, "....Sekh.." it was quietly whispered.

..._'Sekh?'_ Kaiba thought. Jou stood up quickly, and moved to the other side of the table.

Jou's eyes narrowed. His lip snarled slightly, and Seto suddenly found himself on the ground. He hadn't felt anything touch him. Jou hurredly climbed on top of Kaiba, and sneered.

"How could you!? You left me in the fire! You left me!!" Jou screamed.

"Wha--What the hell are you talking about, Jounouchi? What fire?"

"You Bas--" Jou cut himself off. Then blinked. 

"Jounouchi?"

"I can't believe I just did that."

"...Did what?"

"I.. I just.." He stuttered and looked around. He was back at the table.

"You were staring the the ceiling and you fell asleep. _Wow_. Now, If you'll tell me what you want..?"

Jou opened his mouth to protest his confusion, but stopped. He'd think about what happened later. Kaiba didn't need to know.

"I..I uh, wanted another classic to read."

"Give up on Jane Eyre?"

"No, I finished it."

Seto blinked. He wasn't expecting that. 

"I'm shocked."

"Yeah, well, I didn't take you for the romance-type reader, so, were both shocked."

Kaiba raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you read For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway."

Jou nodded, "...Thank you," grabbed his bag, and walked over to the shelf.

Jou grabbed the book, and left without bothering to check it out.

What the hell kind of dream was that? Why did it feel so real? The questions kept running through Jou's mind. He could feel the emotion that the Jou in the dream held. Was it really a dream? 

...A hallucination? Jou shook his head. No, he wasn't crazy.

A bolt of pain rain through his head once more, and stopped him in his tracks yet again. He'd gotten through the whole day without a headache, and was wondering where they were coming from.

He didn't think his family had migrains or anything... He'd have to call Shizuka later, ask her.

This time was slightly longer than the pain from the two headaches before. He stopped by a wall, and leaned against it with one hand, steadying himself. He noticed the bracelet on his arm again.

There was something strange going on with these stupid bracelets. Like the fact that they would dissappear. But, no matter how much he wanted to, he couldn't bring himself to take them off. They were only bracelets though, right?

Right? How can a bracelet be more than just a bracelet?

...He thought of Yugi's Puzzle and Bakura's ring. Was it possible this was part of the millenium set? Jou's eyes widened.

Waitaminute. That's not possible. '_There are only seven sennen items, Jou, don't be a dumbass,'_ he though, as the pain finally receeded. It was a welcome feeling.

He rubbed his temples and took off once more. He would be walking home alone again today. He told Yugi he needed to do something that afternoon, so to go on ahead. Yugi was worried as usual, but Jou told him it was no big deal. Yugi agreed, as long as he would call him when he got home. Jou inwardly rolled his eyes, but laughed and told Yugi, "Of course I will!"

Jou found himself suddenly very thirsty, as he turned the corner and heard... running water? It felt as if he hadn't had anything to drink all week. But, running water on the school grounds? There wasn't any running water here. But he could hear it. He walked in the direction of the sound, and felt himself becoming really hot. His skin had a sudden shock run through it, and he was forced to his knees from pain. What was going on? He closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out whatever would come next.

When he opened them, he was back where he was originally standing. He looked around. It seemed darker than it just did and the pain he felt wasn't there. What was going on?

Was he going crazy? He shook slightly.

No, no, it's hormones. Teenager hormones. He could handle this. Determined, Jou walked quickly home once.

When he finally reached his destination, he flopped back down on his bed, and pulled out For Whom The Bell Tolls. This better be a good one. Jou began his reading, and quickly got through the book.

An hour later, he was finished. It wasn't half bad. It was too bad that he hadn't started reading classics earlier. He was bored. Homework. Might as well do that. Wait; he had finished all this homework in class. Jou huffed. He needed more books then. He decided to look around the house. Surely they would have to have atleast one.

He started outside his room, and looked around every book case they owned. Nothing! They had nothing!

Well, besides his father's pornography, which Jou strangely had felt no intrest in.

He sighed and checked his watch. It was only ..wait. Was it really 10 pm? How did it get so late? 

Suddenly, he had a thought. ...How long was he standing by that building earlier? He glanced down to his bracelets again. They were just bracelets, that's all. And, all he had were teenage hormonal problems. That was it. It would pass.

Of Course it would.

{End Chapter 2}

Ezra: Muahahah! Who guess it was a Rubik's cube that Yugi had? ^^;

Betty: Ô_o.. Anyway. Thanks so much for the reviews! *dances* We weren't expecting so many!! *grins* 

Ezra: And to answer some of your questions:   
  
**Vera:** XD You'll have to wait and see. ^^;

**Daisy:** I've read that story so many times! XD Love it to death. Speaking of that story.. 

**Ozark:** XD You're so nice! XD So many praises! 

**Blue Lagoon Loon:** Yes, yes it is. ^^ 

  
Ezra: Alright everyone! Thank you so much for your support! ^^ So many of my favorite authors reviewed. O_O It's great! I feel special. XD   
  
Betty: Review again! ^____^ 


	3. You Play Chess?

{Quarter to Three} 

{Chapter 3: You Play Chess?}

Per routine, Jou woke with a start. And coughed. He tried to breathe in, but found that he couldn't through his nose ... it was clogged. He coughed again and turned on his side. He had gotten a cold. As shifted further into his blankets, he pulled them closer. It was particularly cold this morning. He checked his alarm. 5:30 am. Jou coughed again, and shifted in his blankets once more.

He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep again. The blankets seemed to get warmer. He sighed. A few moments later, it seemed as if the blankets were ... were burning! Jou quickly jumped out of them. The comforter caught fire quickly, and spread just as fast. It wound itself through his mattress and out through the carpet. Jou tried to get to the door but found it futile, the fire had spread throughout the room.

"DAD! DAD! Come help me! Please! Dad!" There was no one coming. No evidence, even, that his father could hear him. Had the fire already spread throughout the house? Jou called out for his dad again, but coughed from the smoke inhalation.

"Dad! ... Dad ... help ..." Jou fell to his knees, and leaned over himself. The smoke was getting really thick. 

Jou finally collapsed from lack of air and fell unconscious to the ground.

-_-_-

Yugi stared worriedly towards Jou's empty desk. He hadn't shown up today yet, and it bothered Yugi; Jou seemed fine yesterday.

"Mr. Moutou, if you could answer the question?" Yugi's head snapped forward to attention.

"Uh ... uh ..." _/Yami ... did you hear the question?/_

//The answer is Syria, Aibou.//

/Thank you Yami!/

"Syria, Ma'am."

The teacher looked suspicious for a moment before nodding and returning her focus back to the blackboard.

Yugi snapped his head over to the classroom door as he heard it open. Jou appeared in the doorway.

He looked ... pale. Very pale.

Jou made his way up to the the front desk, towards the teacher. He bowed and mumbled an apology as the teacher reprimanded his tardiness.

"Do you have an excuse as to why you were late, young man?"

Jou stared blankly at her for a moment before shaking his head and walking away to his desk. He could feel everyone's eyes on him. No one just ignores the teacher.

But the teacher didn't say anything. She was slightly unnerved by Jou's obvious change in attitude. He would normally come up with an extravagant excuse, but today ...

Jou sat down wearily in his desk. He placed his head in his hands, and sighed quietly.

He ran his dream over in his mind. It couldn't have been a dream, though; he could feel the flames on his skin. He could recognize the fact that he couldn't breathe in his room. No, it wasn't a dream. And it hadn't been like the ones before where he ended up strangely back in the place before it started. When it stopped ... the ... hallucination, he was on the floor, crouched over. Just like he had been in it. No, it most definitely not a dream, not hormones; he was just going crazy.

He could see his bracelets during the fire as well, but about ten minutes after it ended, they had disappeared again. Jou had decided to ignore his strange bracelets; he found the more he thought about them, the bigger the headache he earned. So he decided not to think about them at all. Or at least try.

He rubbed his hands on his face, wiping imaginary dirt away. He looked over to Yugi's desk, to find Yugi, as he expected, staring worriedly over at him. Jou's demeanor changed quickly, and he smiled a fake smile over to Yugi. This seemed to please him, and he turned back to the teacher. Jou dropped the smile when Yugi turned, and sighed slightly again. He squeezed his eyelids together and tried to pay whatever attention he had back to the teacher.

He didn't notice the second set of eyes that laid upon him. Eyes of whom belonged to Seto Kaiba.

-_-_-

During lunch, Jou did not join his usual group; instead he escaped to the library. He needed to rent more books. Maybe today he'd get more than one. See how long it would take him to read each one. He needed something to keep his mind busy. He kept thinking back to this morning ...

And he would no longer think of it. Nope! He was determined to make his brain occupied. He dropped off _For Whom The Bell Tolls_, and made his way to back to the classics. Jou began flipping through some, but decided that he'd just read them all. He grabbed four from the shelf and noticed it made a hole through the other side. He leaned down to look through, and saw Kaiba sitting at a table. Playing chess. Jou smiled ... _that_ was something he could do! He could finally try chess, and bug Kaiba at the same time.

He walked over to the table and watched silently. Kaiba had yet to notice he was there. He made his final move, and his partner scowled. 

"You know you're gonna win every time, you know?" The boy said.

"Just keep working on it." The kid nodded and left. Jou took this as his chance and slid into the chair. Seto seemingly still hadn't noticed him. Currently he had his eyes palmed into his left hand, leaning against the table.

Jou smiled slightly, and began moving the pieces back into their normal places. He made himself white.

He heard Kaiba sigh, "Yu, I told you that was the last game."

Jou smiled, "Oh, but Kaiba, just once more?"

Seto's head snapped away from his hand to find Jou sitting across from him, with a set board. His eyes widened in surprise, but then narrowed.

"So Kaiba, what do you say? One more game?"

"Why mutt? Looking for something else to fail at?"

Jou's mouth twisted at the comment, but he said nothing. Instead he reached for a pawn, and moved it two spaces forward.

Seto blinked. He really wanted to play? Fine, he would play then. Seto moved for the knight. This would be easy. He would beat Jou in seven moves, and Jou wouldn't even know what hit him.

However, Jou recognized the strategy, but did nothing to counter it. If he wanted to win this, he'd have to play dumb for the time being. Instead he just moved a second pawn.

"You know ... I was thinking." 

"Oh, joy." Kaiba moved a pawn.

"..." Jou moved a rook.

Kaiba frowned at Jou's silence. He'd been acting weird today. Weird all week. He moved his bishop and castled his king.

"Why is it ..." he paused to move another pawn, "That whenever you see me, you insist on insulting me?"

Kaiba didn't answer. Just moved his queen diagonally.

"I mean ... we're both _mature _young adults now, right?" Jou moved his bishop.

"I would have thought we would get over the name calling by now, you know?" Jou looked back up to Kaiba. 

Kaiba sighed, and moved his knight. "Checkmate."

Jou looked down to the board. "Not quite."

Kaiba frowned in confusion and noticed his mistake.

Jou smiled a bit, and moved his queen to take Kaiba's. "Check."

Kaiba's eyes widened in surprise. The dog was keeping up well. 

And ... truthfully, he knew the mutt was right about the name-thing, but he wasn't about to agree out loud. 

Kaiba moved another pawn and defended his king.

Jou's mouth twitched. He had just made a rather large error, and knowing Kaiba, he was sure to have seen it.

Jou moved his rook to defend, but it wasn't enough. Kaiba moved his bishop, and knocked over Jou's king. 

Kaiba smirked. "Checkmate."

Jou's mouth twisted once more, and nodded. That was rather fun.

He stared at the board.

"Can't believe you lost, Jou?" 

Jou caught the name changed and smiled inwardly. "No, just memorizing the move I did to mess up. Make sure it won't happen again."

That caught Kaiba off-gaurd. The dog was _definitely_ acting weird now.

"--here tomorrow?"

Kaiba blinked. "What?"

"Will you be here tomorrow?" 

Once again ... caught off guard. "... Yeah."

The bell rang, but neither moved. 

Jou ran things over in his mind. Seto hadn't been _that_ bad to him today. Maybe he should ask him to play again. He wasn't sure if any of his other friends even knew how to.

A silent minute passed by.

"Well, can I play you again, then?" Jou looked away slightly, chewing on his bottom lip.

Wow, the shocks just kept coming.

"Yeah ... I guess." Jou nodded, and stood up quickly. He grabbed his bag and strode out the front door, once again forgetting to check his books out.

Seto just watched, confused, as he went.

-_-_-

Jou made his way to his last period. No headaches all day. It was nice. Oh ... damn. He always did speak too soon.

He dropped his books to the ground, and clenched his head in his hands. He dropped to one knee and hunched over.

This was most definitely the worst. He felt himself grown very hot again, and his back began stinging. But it seemed as if it was a mere second, and all his pain vanished. He looked around. No, this was most definitely not school.

He got up slowly and took a step back. All around him were ... what seemed like mini markets. And in the distance-- pyramids. ...Where _was_ he? People yelled out to him in some foreign language he couldn't understand. He looked down. Was he wearing sandals? What the hell was going on? Fanfare sounded out, and Jou noticed the people around him all come from around their stands and fall to their knees. He stared strangely at them. What were they doing?

People were yelling at him. He glanced around again. Maybe he should be doing what they were doing ...? 

Suddenly he was grabbed from behind and thrown to the ground. He caught himself before his head hit.

He looked around again in confusion. He heard footsteps coming ... marching. He looked down the pathway to see a procession. It seemed ages before they finally reached Jou. ...Wait. Was that ... 

"Kaiba?!" Jou jumped up and ran over to him. The man who looked like Seto stepped back in slight shock.

"Kaiba! What's going on!?"

He stayed silent until, "... Jou, what are you doing?"

Jou blinked. He could understand him just fine. Plain Japanese.

"What the hell is going on, Kaiba!?"

"Why are you hanging on me, dog?"

Jou blinked again and looked around him. School. Fuck.

He glanced to Seto, who he had a firm grip upon. He looked down at his hand that was gripping Kaiba's arm. He glanced at his own. Bracelets.

Jou was speechless. He opened and closed his mouth hesitatingly. This time it was just too much. Jou passed out cold.

{End Chapter 3}

Ezra: *blinks*... ...*blinks again* Oh my gosh! O_O 35 reviews for two chapters!! And all of my favorite authors!! O___________O

Betty: ... I guess this means they like it. ^^; And for those of you who think Jou's going to have a Yami... Muahahah ... You'll have to wait and see.

Ezra: ..ï_o. Thanks so much to everyone! =D

Betty: Yup! Thankies! Chapter 4 will be out soon!


	4. More Books Please!

{Quarter to Three}

{Chapter 4: More Books Please!}

Yugi ran quickly down the hallway. Jou had passed out? He sped up slightly; he needed to get to the nurse's office.

__

//Aibou, what's the matter? You seem distressed.//

/Yami, Jou's collapsed./

//Collapsed?//

/Yes, he passed out at the end of lunch./

//Do you know what's the matter?//

/No, they didn't tell me./

Yugi finally reached the office and stormed quickly in through the doorway. Jou was lying on the cot silently. Yugi ran up to him, but was caught by the shirt.

He turned around to see Kaiba. 

"Kaiba? What are you doing here?"

"Checking on the mutt, Yugi. Don't wake him up."

Faintly surprised, Yugi answered back, "I just wanted to get closer, is all. Do you know what happened?"

Seto nodded. "He ..." He paused, then said, "He just passed out. Luckily I was there to catch him."

Yugi looked grateful. "Nothing happened to signal it?"

Kaiba shook his head, lying.

Yugi sighed and glanced wearily back to his fallen friend. As much as he didn't want to, he had to go back to his class. "I gotta go back now."

Seto nodded and watched as Yugi left.

He pulled up a close chair and sat down next to Jou.

"... Stupid mutt," He grumbled, "What's going on with you?"

Jou didn't answer, but turned on his side, facing Kaiba. Seto leaned a little closer. Did Jou look tanner? He blinked and the tan went away. Pale as usual. 

Kaiba noticed the bracelets on Jou's arms. They had Egyptian eyes on them. Strange. Although they weren't really bracelets ... they looked more like cuffs.

Jou's eyes snapped open.

Seto bounced back in his seat in surprise.

Jou looked around quickly. Where was he? ... School. Nurse's office. Bed. Blanket. ... Kaiba?

Jou looked at Kaiba with a strange look. What was he doing here?

"What are you doing here?"

Kaiba stared down at him in surprise. "Do you remember what happened?"

Jou looked away in thought, then nodded.

"Did you catch me?"

Seto nodded as well.

"...Thanks."

Had he just ... thanked him? Seto was dumbfounded.

They both fell silent, until Seto remembered the bracelets.

"And what about those bracelets?" Kaiba looked down to Jou's arms. They weren't there anymore!

He stood up quickly.

Jou sat up in his bed. "What bracelets?"

"Where the hell did they go?!"

Jou glanced down to his arms and sighed. How was he going to explain this one?

Jou stayed silent for the time being and brought a hand to his head. He felt a headache coming on. A normal one this time. 

He glanced up to Kaiba. He was staring intently at him.

Jou huffed and moved his legs over the bed to a sitting position. He dragged a hand through his hair and sighed.

"I ... I um ... don't know."

"What?" He didn't know where the bracelets went?

"Yeah, I don't know. They just kinda disappear. Freaky, hm?" Jou looked to the floor.

"They just disappear. You realize how ridiculous that sounds, Jounouchi." It was more a statement than a question.

He didn't answer; just stared at the tile. Black, white, black white, black. ... Tan? Was that sand? He looked around himself, and the floor looked like sand. He blinked and rubbed his eyes. It was gone. He looked at his arms. There were his bracelets.

They looked bigger. Flatter.

"Hm. They're bigger than they were before."

Kaiba looked down to Jou and noticed the bracelets' sudden appearance. He stood up and backed away a few paces.

"Where'd they come from!?"

"I said I don't know!" Jou stood quickly. Too quickly. He wavered on his feet. Kaiba moved forward and caught his arms. 

"..."

"I'm alright. I just gotta sit down." Kaiba moved forward slowly, moving Jou with him. He helped Jou sit back on the bed. Jou suddenly gripped Kaiba's arms as he saw the ground turn into sand again.

"Jou?"

No answer. His eyes widened and flipped around the room. His grip tightened. 

"Jou!" Seto shook him.

Jou blinked and looked ahead of him. "Sekh?"

"What?"

Jou closed his eyes, and shook his head. He blinked again and looked around.

He looked at Seto once more. His eyes widened in surprise.

Jou gasped and quickly jerked out of Seto's grip. He stood, wavered again, but ignored it, and continued towards the door. 

"What?" Seto turned around to look at Jou. "Wait." Jou threw the door open and ran out.

Just at that moment, the school bell rang. All the students came rushing out of their classes. Jou was lost in the crowd.

"Where did Katsuya go?" The nurse behind him sounded out.

"He felt better; he left." Seto didn't look back at her and left the room.

-_-_-

Jou ran out of the school building: out into the parking lot, across the street, and down the road. He had a feeling if he stopped running he would remember what he just did. What he had just thought about Seto. 

He didn't want to think about it.

Within a minute, Jou's initial adrenaline rush faded, but he didn't stop. He couldn't stop. He made his way quickly home and slammed into his room.

He threw himself on his mattress, and breathed hard. What the hell was that? How could he have thought that? What if he had acted it out and never knew?

He let out a short yell of anger. He turned on his back and stared at the ceiling.

He had just thought about Seto ... _'_Kaiba_, not Seto,'_ he told himself. The images came flashing into his mind again.

__

He leaned forward and placed a hand under his chin, lifting it to make the blonde look him in the eyes. A thumb stroked over his cheek.

"...and I'm never letting you leave again." Jou continued staring at the ceiling. Remembering.

__

"Sekh?" The brown-haired man leaned in and placed his mouth over the other's. He stood stiff for a moment before leaning into the kiss, deepening it. Sekh flicked out his tongue over his mouth. Jou moaned softly and squeezed his eyes together.

Jou closed his eyes in the same manner. It was disgusting. How could he have thought it was a nice feeling? Sekh ... Seto, whatever, had just kissed him. He turned on his side. 

Jou groaned to himself. This was stupid. He'd freaked in front of Seto, told him about the bracelets.

Well, it wasn't as if he could just tell him that there weren't any bracelets. He had seen them disappear and appear again. But then, he had that ... that _thing_ with Sekh. Jou could feel Sekh lean into him ... running a hand slowly down his arm, on to his--

It was just gross.

But why had he liked it?

He growled in frustration. This was so confusing! He glanced at his arms. The bracelets were there once more.

A sound came from his door and he looked up. He glared down at his bracelets.

'_Stupid things. Just disappear already,' _he thought.

And they were gone. His eyes widened in surprise. 

Jou blinked at his arms as the door was banged on once more.

He looked back over to the door and got up. He walked slowly over to it and opened it.

There stood Honda and Anzu. He blinked again.

"Guys?"

"Your dad let us in, Jou," Anzu answered his unasked question. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Honda started as he lifted Jou's backpack, "You left so quickly you didn't even remember your bag! What happened?"

Jou backed away from the door to let the two in. They walked into his slightly messy room as Jou turned to both of them.

"Just passed out is all. Didn't feel well. Heat exhaustion, I guess."

They both nodded; it _had_ been rather warm today.

They sat in silence before, "Oh! Jou, did you check these out?" Anzu held out the four books he had taken earlier that day.

Jou nodded and took them.

"Since when did you start reading so much?" Honda asked grinning.

Jou stared wanly. "You have a problem with my reading?"

Honda stopped smiling and shook his head.

Anzu spoke again, "Jou, are you feeling alright now? Yugi was really worried about you earlier. We all were."

Jou nodded. "Where is Yugi, anyway?"

"I think he's talking to Kaiba, actually. Back at the school library, I think." Anzu answered.

__

'Kaiba? What if he ... ' Jou trailed his thought off. He stood up quickly and turned to his friends.

"You need to go. I need to leave, so you need to leave." He pushed both of them out his door. 

"Thank you for bringing my backpack and stuff, but I just remembered something." He opened the front door, and pushed them out. They stared back at him in shock.

"See you tomorrow." Jou flashed a fake grin, and closed the door.

Anzu and Honda stared at the door, and then at each other. 

"Did he just ... Kick us out?" Honda blinked.

Anzu shrugged and turned to walk away. Honda quickly followed.

-_-_-

Jou waited a few minutes and ran back out his house. He paused and then began to run. What reason would Kaiba have for telling Yugi? Perhaps Jou was just over reacting?

He sighed and walked back into the house. 

He plopped down on the mattress again and grabbed for the classics. He could just ask Kaiba tomorrow at their chess game. If he was still going to play him, that is.

Jou only hoped that he hadn't kissed Seto. If this hallucination had been like the one this morning ... he didn't know what to expect anymore. He'd sure find out tomorrow.

__

'So, if Kaiba kicks my ass, I'll know I kissed him,' he thought blandly.

He leaned back to lie on his pillows. He took one more glance at his arms. They were still gone. But they only brought back memories from earlier. Just _thinking_ of them.

He felt his cheeks heat up and his blood run quicker. He wasn't thinking about this! He stood up quickly and paced. 

What was going on here? Why was he having these hallucinations? Why did they start so suddenly? He had never had them before ...

Before ... before he had gotten the bracelets!

He stared down at his wrists. Was it them? They did strangely disappear. He reached down to take them off. 

His door was suddenly banged on, and he paused. 

"Jounouchi! We're going out for dinner!" It was his father. "Get out here now!" 

Jou sighed. 

"Coming." He walked towards the door. 

{End Chapter 4}

Ezra: So, Jou finally sort of realized it was the bracelets. Hmmm. ^^ 

Betty: Yup. And one more thing! O____O 53 reviews??? 

Ezra: ... *hands cookies and punch to everyone* Thank you sooooo much! =DDDD 

Betty: We love you all! 

Ezra: Chapter 5 out soon! ^_^ 


	5. Scratch That

{Quarter to Three}

{Chapter 5: Scratch That...}

Jou woke up early the next morning and looked around his room. No fire today. He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. He glanced tiredly at his wrist. 

They were still gone. 

Good. That's the way he wanted it. It seemed as though they were causing all the trouble he had been having. It seemed outrageous, but he realized that since he had gotten them, things had been changing. It couldn't be a Sennen Item. There were only seven of those. He didn't black out like Yugi used to do. At least… he didn't think he did.

His mouth twisted. So, what was with these stupid things? No need to think about it now. He stood up, and walked to the bathroom for his morning shower. 

-_-_-

When Jou and Yugi reached school, the bell had already rung, making the two boys have to rush to class. They entered quietly, going unnoticed by the teacher.

Jou slid silently into his chair, and got his binder out. The teacher turned around from the blackboard and began her lesson.

Her voice seemed to drag on. Jou already couldn't wait for his first break.

-_-_-

His classes seemed to drag, but lunch finally came around. He was slow to the library. Hopefully, the hallucination he had hadn't made him kiss Kaiba yesterday. He blushed at the memory.

He opened the doors, and walked to the book drop first. Okay. Done. Now, the hard part.

He took a deep breath, and walked as slow as possible to the classics. He could peek around... If he was there, he'd go... eventually. He nodded to himself. Okay.

He reached the classics, and slowly peeked around the corner. …Almost..

Almost...

He looked at the table where Kaiba sat yesterday finally. ...Empty!?

Jou sighed and stood straight, crossing his arms. Maybe he really did kiss--

"Looking for me, Jou?"

"Ack!" He turned to find Kaiba standing behind him. He pursed his mouth in annoyance.

Kaiba smirked.

Jou walked away from him, and stalked to a table. He glanced over to Seto, who looked slightly shocked, but followed his steps the table. He brought the chess box out, and placed it on the table. Kaiba took a seat across from Jou.

Jou opened the top of the box, and pulled the board out. Seto dumped out the pieces. Jou grabbed for the white once more, and began slowly putting his pieces to the boxes.

He couldn't believe this. He put a pawn on an empty spot. He was going to play chess again with Kaiba. And he didn't mind. He set up a few more pieces. He smiled slightly; perhaps Seto had gotten bracelets too?

Their board was finally set up. Jou stared down at it, and then back up and Kaiba. He suddenly remembered Yugi had been talking to Kaiba last night.

"You didn't," he paused, "You didn't tell.. Yugi.. um," he tried grasping for words.

"About your bracelets? No. About your psychotic episode? No again." Kaiba's mouth twisted in annoyance.

Relieved, Jou looked back down to the board, and nodded. Now it was time to start strategizing.

He wasn't going to lose this time.

He moved a knight, and waited.

Kaiba sighed to himself, and moved a pawn. Maybe Jou really did know what he was doing. 

Jou reached for a pawn but paused. Someone was standing next to him. He turned his head to get a better look. His eyes widened, it was the kid from yesterday. ...With a knife pointed directly at him.

Jou stood quickly with a yelp, and backed away. He didn't notice the sand that was around him.

A hand on his arm suddenly brought him back to the library. Seto pulled lightly on his arm.

"...Hey, mutt, what's wrong with you?"

Yu looked slightly offended, "You know, I just came to see if Kaiba and I were going to play chess today. You didn't need to freak out." He walked off.

Jou glanced quickly around the room. Yes, he was back in the library. Safe; away from the psycho with a knife.

He looked back to Seto, who still had a firm grip on his arm. He looked normal too. He nodded to him.

"Nothing.… I'm fine." He placed a hand over Kaiba's, and pushed it off his arm slowly. He walked back over to the chair.

He sat down, and found an easy win strategy. He suddenly wasn't in the mood to play anymore.

But that didn't mean he wasn't going to win.

Jou moved a pawn.

Kaiba moved one of his as well.

Jou moved his bishop halfway across the board.

Kaiba moved another pawn. He was obviously not paying attention anymore. Jou moved his queen.

"Checkmate, Kaiba."

Kaiba stared down the board in shock. 

"That can't be right."

Jou sighed, "I'm gonna go now." He reached for his backpack and headed out the library. Kaiba watched in shock as he went. He piled the pieces quickly back into the box, shoved it in his briefcase, and left the library as well.

-_-_-

Jou walked quickly away from the library. This was all getting way to confusing. He made his way to the bathroom. 

He opened the door, and peeked inside. Good, no on was there. Jou walked all the way in and threw his backpack near the wall. He scooted to the sink and turned on the faucet. Some cold water might do him some good. He cupped his hands under the running water and brought it back to his mouth taking a drink. 

He sighed, and rubbed his hands on his face. Why was it so warm in here? He put his hands back under the water and splashed some back up on his face. 

It seemed to be getting hotter. He cupped more water and splashed it on his face, and behind his neck. It seemed to work for a moment, but the incessant heat just kept coming back. He sighed, and finally reached down to take off his shirt. He threw it down by his backpack, and cupped more water.

This was getting irritating. He splashed the water on his back, and then he noticed his wrists.

There were his bracelets. ...Wait.. Arm bands would be a better name for them now. He stared shocked at them.

...

...

What the fuck was going on here?! 

The bathroom door opened, but it went unnoticed by Jou. He just continued to stare.

Kaiba walked completely into the bathroom and found a shirtless Jou staring at his arms. He walked closer. Jou hadn't seemed to notice him yet. He reached a hand slowly to Jou's shoulder...

Jou flicked his eyes to greet Kaiba's. He took a few steps backwards, and Jou's eyes went back to his arms. How had they become that big? Oh god.. they were beginning to burn!

He moved away from Kaiba and into the wall, trying to get his fingers under the cuffs. It was really starting to burn! 

Jou yelped, and slid down the wall. They weren't coming off!

"Get them off!" 

Kaiba just stood watching shocked.

He looked up to him, "Help me!" Kaiba came forward, and got down to his knees. He took hold of Jou's left arm, and began pulling at the band. It wasn't budging. Then he noticed; Jou was burning up! 

Kaiba placed a hand against the upper half of Jou's arm, and waited. Jou felt as if he were on fire.

"Please.. Please help me get them off." Jou whined. He was getting tired, and really hot. 

Kaiba wasn't sure what to say. Jou sighed and suddenly stopped moving. Kaiba stared at him.

"...Jou?"

Suddenly Jou fell to the ground. Kaiba reached to grab him, shake him, anything! And suddenly...

He was gone.

Kaiba stared at the empty wall. No, Jou wasn't dead. He just wasn't there anymore.

-_-_-

Jou woke up groggily, and noticed he was on the ground. He sat up slowly, and looked around.

...

Now he was really confused. He wasn't at school anymore. He stood up and walked over to the closest window. 

...Pyramids. 

Nope. He was fairly sure he wasn't dreaming. He pinched his arm. Yup, it hurt. Okay, so he wasn't dreaming. Now there were only two real things that could be going on here. He was either A)Hallucinating; B)Hallucinating more or C) .really in Egypt. 

He peeked out the window again.

Scratch that. Ancient Egypt. The sphinx still had a nose... There were workers on the pyramids.

There were footsteps coming from down the hall, and Jou froze. He looked around, but found no decent hiding places. Suddenly the footsteps stopped and he turned around.

There stood a girl with long hair, and some thingy on her forehead, and a necklace that matched. Jou blinked. 

"...Isis?"

She smiled sadly, "Hello Jounouchi."

Jou blinked. Wasn't she that freaky girl who could see things? Like.. the future and stuff?

"...Am I... hallucinating again?"

She said nothing for a moment, and then looked up to him, "No, Jounouchi. But if you do not come with me right now, you are going to die."

{End Chapter 5}

Ezra: MUAHAHAHA!! *hack wheeze choke* Ahem.. I know this is a short one, but it leads up to the next chapter. *nod* 

Betty: Um, I'd just like to point out that we um... Have 70 reviews.

Ezra: Yeah.. Wow. *blinks* Thank you so much guys. X3 We never expected so much... *blinks again* And to **Jantra: **My goodness, girl. Everyone of them matters! =D Each one touches me, especially yours. ^_^ It made me feel so special. =D I want to personally thank all of you to taking your time and reading my story and reviewing. It means a lot.

Betty: You bet it does. =D So, make us feel even more special, and review again! ^_~ *hands OJ and YGO cake out to everyone*


	6. Not Good!

{Quarter to Three}

{Chapter 6: Not Good!}

He blinked. _...What?_

"What?" Isis stared at him.

"We need to find someplace more private. Right away. Come." She turned and walked down the hall. Jou blinked and followed. Having someone tell you you're going to die is kind of a shocker ...

Isis stalked quickly down the halls with Jou following right behind her.

"I'm going to have to apologize to you, Katsuya."

"What?"

"You're going to be taken away before I have the chance to explain everything to you."

"How did you ..." He trailed off. ... _duh_.

"Jounouchi, you are in fact, in Egypt. No hallucination, no dream."

He stayed quiet. Footsteps could be heard down the hall.

"The visions you saw were not of a past life. They were of your future." She paused and turned to look at him, then said, "You have to change it."

He let the fact soak in. ... What the hell?

"What do you mean?"

"Everything you saw in those visions were of your future. You know how it ended as well."

The fire? He was going to die in a fire? Screw that. He was going to die?

He opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. She glanced to the side to look down the hall. The footsteps were getting louder.

"However, your future is not set in stone. You have to change it if you want to come out of this alive." The steps grew heavier and louder.

He continued to stare. 

"The first thing you need to do is make sure Sekh does not become your new master. You know who Sekh is, I'm sure."

This was getting to be too much too fast. But she continued.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this, Katsuya. I'm very sorry." She bowed her head. "But you have to do it. You have to cooperate or you'll be killed!" She paused and then whispered, " I don't want you to die again."

Jou was suddenly seized from behind and dragged off in the other direction.

He began to struggle. He wasn't ready for this! "Isis!"

But she ignored him and walked the other way.

"ISIS!" He was suddenly thrown to the ground, where he landed on his knees.

Jou stood and looked around. He was in a whole different room. Large draperies hung from the windows and candelabras hung on the walls. His arms were gripped again and he was dragged to the middle of the room. There were other people there. All lying down. ...Were they sleeping?

Jou stared for a moment before he found himself thrown to the ground again.

He glared up to the guard who threw him, then blinked. That guard looked suspiciously like ... Honda.

"Honda?" Jou stood and stared at the guard. "Honda" glared at Jou and swung out at him.

Jou caught his arm, and looked closer at his face. "Is that you? Why are you doing this?"

"Honda's" other fist came suddenly and knocked Jou across the face. Jou was suddenly flung to the ground as he clutched his face. He stared up to the Honda look-alike in shock.

This most definitely was not Honda. He turned around to find some of the others had woken up.

"Know your place, slave," Honda spoke to him. He turned and left.

The other slaves around him were now waking up. The doors he came through were suddenly opened up and _he_ walked in. Seto Kaiba ... Sekh.

Jou stared at him. He'd never seen Kaiba in such little clothes... He looked around himself again. All the other people were now bowing in a row. When did that happen?

He felt a hand on the back of his neck, and suddenly he was shoved forward. Guess he was supposed to bow too...

He peeked up through his bangs. What was going on? 

Another man he couldn't recognize paced along the row of people. He stopped in front of a young girl, and grabbed harshly onto her hair pulling her up. What was he doing? 

Wait a minute. Anzu? Jou stood suddenly. The man placed a hand over her breast and the Anzu look-alike whimpered.

How dare that man touch Anzu like that?! Jou moved to run towards the Anzu-look-a-like but he was suddenly stopped and thrown to the ground. He glared angrily up the person who threw him. It was that damn Honda look-alike again! Jou stood again, and threw an angry punch into his face. "Honda" fell to the ground and Jou raced over to Anzu.

"Anzu!" Jou grabbed her around the waist and pulled her angrily from the man's hands. "Don't touch her!" He carefully set her on the ground. He stood back up to the man, who looked furious.

Jou slid into a defensive position and waited. Then he looked around. Everyone in the room stood shocked. Staring. Even the people who were on the floor. Okay. Not good. 

But he still stayed in his defensive position. No way was he going to let himself be vuln-- ... He felt a presence behind him and jammed his elbow backwards into the attacker. He spun and round-housed the man in the head.

...Whoa. Where did he learn to do that? He was suddenly swung at from behind. Okay, not the time to think about it. 

Jou turned towards the man who swung. It was the bastard who was touching Anzu! Jou growled and threw an uppercut into his stomach. The man stumbled backwards and Jou angrily kicked him in the side. The bastard fell to his knees and Jou slammed the side of his arm into the corner of his neck and the man fell the ground, passed out cold.

Jou had no time to catch his breath as he was suddenly assaulted from behind. He tried to pull away but found he couldn't. His arms were securely held. Anzu was suddenly in front of him, also being held. Jou stared at her. She looked dead scared. She eyed him with wide eyes, and they were suddenly dragged forward.

Jou found himself on the floor once more, and he stared forward. Was that the pharaoh in front of him? Why exactly did the pharaoh look like Yami? Jou blinked. 

"I'm assuming you know this woman?" Yami spoke to him. Jou stayed silent in shock. Sounded just like Yami too.

"And I'm also assuming that because of this, this prompted your attack against one of my advisors."

"That bastard deserved it." Jou said without thinking. 

Yami's eye's flashed dangerously. He looked down to Anzu and pointed. "Execute her!"

Jou's eyes widened in shock, as he couldn't hold back a gasp. Anzu was suddenly screaming as she was dragged away. 

"NO! You can't do this!" Jou stood and chased after her. He grabbed her and pulled her away once more. The guards backed off. They had seen what this man did to the advisor.

Anzu was crying now. "Why are you doing this?" she whimpered.

"What? Why wouldn't I?"

"I do not know you."

Jou opened his mouth to reply, but suddenly dropped her in shock. She didn't, did she? This was not Anzu. The guard was not Honda.

He couldn't reply. He just stood reveling as the facts hit him hard. He was in Ancient Egypt. He was completely alone.

Anzu was suddenly seized again and dragged away. She was no longer screaming. Jou dropped to his knees and covered his mouth. He was going to scream if he took it away.

Or maybe throw up.

This wasn't right. Why was he here? For some dead incarnation of his? Why did he care how he died? He felt tears prick the sides of his eyes. He had just killed Anzu. Or at least someone who looked exactly like her. This wasn't fair. It wasn't right and it wasn't fair. 

Yami's voice suddenly sounded out. "This is what you receive for insubordination, slave."

Jou stood and walked angrily towards Yami. "How could you do that so coldly, Yami?"

The room suddenly fell dead silent. Oh crap. What did he do now?

"How do you know my name, slave?" Yami spoke coldly. "And you would dare _speak it to my face!?_" He was roaring now. 

Jou froze. Uh-oh. That weird creepy eye-thing started appearing on his forehead. Uh oh big time.

The room seemed to melt away and it was replaced by darkness. Oh. Not good at all.

Yami's eyes flashed as he placed out his hand. Oh. Not good, not good, _not good_!

Jou placed his arms in front of his face, awaiting his definite fate. 

There was a sudden flash, and the black around him seemed to fade away.

Was it over? Was he lost forever in the shadow world now? He peeked over his arms.

Oh ... 

In front of him stood two very large, very real monsters.

Flame Swordsman and Red Eyes Black Dragon.

-_-_-

Ezra: Erk!! I'm so sorry everyone! I know it's been forever since I updated, but I've been so busy. School had finals and a whole bunch of other junk. Plus, this chapter was surprisingly hard to write. But I'm done with school for the summer now! =D And I know where I'm going with the plot too. The next chapter wont take as long to get out!

Betty: We'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed! =DD 88 reviews just completely surmazes and aprizes us! ... Pokemon reference! XD

Ezra: We love you all! *passes out Jou plushies* And thank you to DN, my own personal goddess, cause she totally rocks. Be my beta reader forever? X3 *hugs*

Betty: Review please! We lost some because of ffn, darn guys. Grrr on ffn. Grr I say.


	7. I Want To Go Back

{Quarter to Three}

{Chapter 7: I want to go back. }

Oooh. Whoa. Jou blinked at the two monsters. Yami, who stood ahead of him, stared shocked at them, then Jou.

"How did you summon these beasts?" Yami spoke.

The question knocked Jou out of his thoughts. "..I.. uh.." he blinked. Then stared at them once more. Then he remembered. His hands flew down to his pant pockets and felt around. There they were! 

He pulled out his deck of cards. He searched through them quickly to find his Swordsman and Red Eyes. Both their card pictures were blank. He cocked his head at them. Well, this certainly was a surprise.

He walked slowly over to his Red Eyes, and poked on the scales. Yup, certainly felt real. His dragon turned it's head and lowered it to Jou's. 

Jou placed a hand over it's large nose and rubbed hesitantly. The dragon let out a breath and he snatched his hand away a moment later. His gaze followed back over to the pharaoh.

"Where did you find those, slave?" Yami's voice sounded out.

"They're mine!" he yelled to him, and then tucked his deck back into his pocket. His monsters turned to look at Yami.

"No slave is allowed to participate in Shadow Games."

"I'm not a slave, you jack-ass!" Yami glared towards him. 

Murmurs sounded through the room. Jou looked around, suddenly nervous. Maybe that wasn't the right thing to say...

He felt a large hand against his shoulder. 

_'...?'_ he turned to find his Swordsman standing behind him. He stared up at the monster, before smiling nervously. He looked towards a furious-looking Yami.

"Sekh!" he suddenly called out, "Remove these monsters immediately!"

It wasn't a moment until Jou watched the topless high-priest stand and begin to chant. His monsters, almost immediately seemed to lose their color, and slowly fade.

"What... what are.." Jou trailed off. His monsters were gone. Oh.. perfect. He didn't feel so bold anymore.

Jou felt a sudden drain in his energy. Almost as if he couldn't stand... He wavered on his feet, but stood his ground. No falling in front of the pharaoh, now.

"Take him, Sekh," Yami spoke once more, "Do with him what you will." Sekh stood, bowed, and walked towards Jou.

Jou backed away, as Sekh advanced. Oooh, this wasn't good. He grabbed onto Jou's arm, and began pulling him. Not good at all. Isis' words rang through his mind, _'The first thing you need to do is make sure Sekh does not become your new master. You know who Sekh is, I'm sure.'_

Jou looked at Sekh's face just to make sure. Yeah. It was him.

Crap.

Jou was drug out the room, and the doors slammed closed with a bang.

-_-_-

It wasn't a moment before the doors closed that Jou fell to the ground in sheer exhaustion.

Sekh merely stared at his new slave with indifference before reaching down and grabbing his arm, dragging him behind him. Jou tried to stand, but his legs felt like noodles. 

Sekh had stayed silent most of the way down the halls as he dragged Jou behind him.

Jou was lost in his thoughts. He could feel a wave of depression wash over him as the memory of the girl who looked like Anzu get dragged away replayed over and over in his mind. The look of fear that was so clearly written in her face... The fact that he had caused it... Was the pharaoh always such a bastard? Yami always seemed pretty decent...

"Yes." The high-priest spoke. Jou looked up to him. 

"What?"

Sekh sighed impatiently, "The pharaoh has always been a bastard."

Jou blinked. "Oh."

Sekh released his arm and stopped his moving. Jou stood up completely, his strength returning to him, and looked up to him questioningly.

"These are my chambers." He motioned towards the doors beside them. "Come."

He turned and walked into his room. Jou walked hesitantly behind him. 

Jou seemed to lose his breath when he reached the inside. It was gorgeous! He had never seen such a beautiful room in his life. He stared around in wonder, before he heard Sekh's voice yell to him.

"Slave! Pay attention!"

Jou's head snapped to the priest. 

Sekh pointed to a large blanket and pillows which were located flatly on the ground near the corner of the room. "This is where you will sleep. Should I need you for anything, you will need to be close. You will tend to my needs."

...When did he have time to prepare those? Jou almost went to question, but decided against it. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know who's it was previously...

Once he registered what Sekh had said he stared incredulously towards him. Was this guy for real? He already seemed worse the Seto back home! Jou paused in his thoughts with the thought of Kaiba. How was he going to go home anyway? ...Was he ever going to be able to?

Jou looked to Sekh. He looked exactly as Kaiba did. He could feel the nostalgia oozing from the boy. It wasn't a nice feeling.

The need to talk to Isis again was now prodding at him but he could hear Sekh speaking to him. Best to listen to the guy.

"Because it's evening, I'll allow you to sleep but, be sure to get up before dawn." Sekh paused, and ran his eyes up and down Jounouchi, causing the teen to become suddenly very self conscious.

"Where did you receive such strange robes?" Jou looked down at himself noting his school uniform and tennis shoes. He looked back up to the priest.

"Uh..um." he trailed off. How was he supposed to answer this?

"Well?" he sighed impatiently.

"Well," he spoke finding his voice, "It was the only thing available." Hopefully that was good enough...

"I see." Sekh continued staring. Jou could feel his cheeks heat up. Why did this guy keep staring at him? He looked to the ground.

The room grew silent for several minutes before Sekh left the room. Jou sighed and moved towards his "bed". He was suddenly quite exhausted. 

He flopped down onto the blankets and rested his head onto the pillow. He could feel his cards prod into his chest. He reached inside his coat and pulled them out. The first two cards were his Red Eyes and his Flame Swordsman. 

He stared at them for a long moment before placing them against his chest. He had suddenly come to a realization. His cards were the only thing he had from 2003. That was it. A flashback of Yami and how the Anzu look-a-like was dragged away was the last straw. His eyes filled with tears almost immediately and he tried to hold them back. Crying never got anyone anywhere!

He bit onto his pointer finger to keep any sounds away and squeezed his eyes together. He was stuck in some weird time. _And _he screwed up the first thing he was supposed to do. He'd become Sekh's slave _and_ he'd gotten some girl killed _and_ made enemies with Yami within the first five minutes of even being there. He finally let out a soft sob. He'd never felt so homesick in his life. 

And now there was really no way to get back. Jou sighed as he tried calm himself.

He needed sleep. He could figure things out better in the morning.

And so he did.

{End Chapter 7} 

Ezra: *bows* Please excuse the lateness with this chapter. I was having personal problems and they got in the way of my writing. ^^; 

Betty: Certainly shows! This chapter was boring! 

Ezra: I know, I know. It's the next chapter everything really gets going, I just had to get this out of the way. 

  
Betty: ...You know you want to tell them, so just do it...

Ezra: *blush* Okay! I got to go to Anime Expo!! *dances*

Betty: *grin*

Ezra: It was so much fun! *squee* ..._Extremely_ expensive, mainly because we don't actually live in Orange County. But so fun. ^__^

Betty: Alright, alright. Review please!


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